FOF #1604 – Susan Powter Fights to Stop the Insanity

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After all these years, Susan Powter is still working to help people eat well and get into shape. She’s taking on the corporations that shove junk foods down our throats and coming out against the fat acceptance movement.

Remember Susan’s catch phrase “Stop the Insanity”? Well the insanity never stopped.

Who the hell does she think she is…telling us what we should be eating?! Who is she to be telling us what we should look like? If we are happy with being obese, then it’s nobody’s business, but our own. Not everyone can be fit and beautiful…and not everyone WANTS to be fit and beautiful. If we’re ok with our size, even knowing the consequences of being overweight, then she should respect that. Be happy being you and stop telling the rest of us what we should be doing.

What’s with the name calling?? Why not call her “crazy-ass used to be fat and unhealthy now is beautiful, skinny and healthy person”. Seems you have issues with fat people and lesbians. LOOK IN THE MIRROR!! Or is it not big enough for you!!

She says a lot of what I’ve thought for years. How on Earth could someone that can barely move or breathe possibly be happy? There’s a certain level of acceptance that people need to have over things they cannot control. I have never believed morbid obesity was beyond anyone’s control.

I’m not sure I understand what she’s saying? Is this what she’s saying? I’m listening to what she’s saying.

She’s a trip.

I think if I met her, I wouldn’t be able to keep up. “I’m sorry. I have to go to bed now, because we’ve been talking for five minutes.”

She’ll probably make it into a padded party room before she makes it onto her island in Fiji.

I agreed with a lot of what she said, but anyone who says ‘it’s this, it’s this and nothing else’ is missing something. The way we plan our cities matters, and we have planned our cities for driving, not walking. It makes a difference. I do think food choices have a bigger impact on your fitness than what activity choices you make. I can’t believe what some people put in their bodies.

Susan has definitely been one of the more intense guests on the FOF for a while.

It was a lot to take in haha, I guess my only complaint would be that there were times when Susan kind of went off on multiple tangents after being asked a question and it got a but hard to follow. I think I understood everything she said, I guess I’m just not used to listening to interviews with a person as passionate as Susan..or something.

I very much enjoyed the show, I am glad you guys were able to get her on as a guest!

I think the US is good example why completely free markets don’t work and why you need a strong government/state. You need a certain framework, rules which even the most powerful people and companies have to obey. Big corporations don’t care about our well-being, they care only about their short term profit and to satisfy their share holder. That’s why we need a strong state which cannot be easily manipulated by lobby groups and big corporations and we need companies where the workers, employees also can decide about the future of the company, not only the managers and share holders.

The core of the problem is the huge and growing inequality of income and wealth caused by the model of financial capitalism which is particular a problem in US or UK if you compare the big industrial nations. Huge parts of the productions are outsourced, the financial sector is a big part of the economy and big corporations dominate the market.

Often Russia is seen as an oligarchy which is true as the billionaires and people in power can do whatever they want. And how is the situation in the USA? Of course when it comes to human rights and freedom the USA is one of the leading countries in the world but when you look at the distribution of wealth one could also call the USA an oligarchy. The income inequality is already higher than in Russia! https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html

In such a society where more and more people struggle to make ends meet I think it is difficult for many people to have the time, the energy and the money to live a healthier life style. Therefore I disagree with Susan Powter when she says nowadays it is easier for people to live healthy and stay in shape. People nowadays can easily get free information about how to live healthier but have less time and money to do so.

I assume until there is real economic change in the US and the income inequality stops rising, the obesity rate will further increase because people who struggle to make ends meet are easier to manipulate and control.

But in order to change the system, you have to make people think about it and as you said often on the show to start with yourself. Therefore we need more people like Susan Powter!

Not too sure the GINI index is a useful support. Just seems to measure relative, not real or objective, wealth. An extreme example drawn from the index, but obviously it is easier for the poor to eat healthy in the US than for the poor in Botswana (having a less equitable wealth distribution). And I would think the other extreme is also true: easier for American poor to eat healthy than for the poor of say Ethiopia (which, according to the index, has a more equitable wealth distribution than the US). Bottom line, wealth distribution is almost meaningless.

Inspired! I upload Friday shows and run for an hour – and to hear Susan was awesome! I used to lift hard and contemplated cycling (juicing) to get bigger — i started at 123 and ballooned up to 180 (with heavy lifting). It was a monstrous task — years later, I’m now a buck fifty – regular runner – I eat (gasp commercial) fruits / veg and lean protein, water and wine – when listening to Susan I actually told myself “i run because I love myself” — haha warts and all ya know a buck fifty isn’t necessarily “Ideal” in the Gay community – i feel to be seen u gotta be ThIcK – but here I am – in the middle of a run – saying to myself (FOR THE FIRST TIME) “I run b/c I love myself” and I guess I could say the same about my eating resting and occasional glass (or two) of wine. Thank you to all three of you.
I love passion about things, it’s kenetic and electric. Thanks again. (new subscriber) – mwah from utah – Dave

Wow! What a great interview. I love Susan’s high energy and openness. She puts the plain hard truth right out there. I love how passionate she is about this planet and our quality of life. Amen Susan you are my inspiration.

Its easy to say “eat organic” when you’ve made millions of dollars from selling books and videos, but the truth is, it’s simply too expensive for most families. If the government would subsidize fruits and vegetables instead of corn, soy, rice, etc., it would make a huge difference in the choices we make.

Didn’t she loose most of the money? How is the situation in the US, how much more does it cost to buy organic instead of non-organic food? In Germany it is actually not much more expensive these days but here people always preferred small supermarkets and local markets instead of huge supermarkets when it comes to food.

Its more expensive but I don’t agree its too expensive. compared to many countries we still spend the smallest% of income on food. when you can buy a fast food meal for $1 buying organic seems expensive. but we all have smart phones and buy coffee at Starbucks (not to mention getting in line and rioting for a pair of sneakers) so its more about prioritIes and how we’ve been trained to expect cheap food.

I absolutely loved listening to her – its like some wild crazy stream of conciousness – I was like “she is either totally nuts, or the smartest person I’ve ever heard” – and I’m going with the latter.. she actually sounds like a very old soul that has been done with this planet for a long time and been here a few lifetimes too many. Love her!

Have you ever interviewed Maria Rodale? She says a lot of the things Susan tried to say in a more coherent manner. Also, I’ve never heard her speak about the death of her brother early in the AIDS crisis. Her mother discussed it in a book but since Maria is from my generation I’d love to hear her thoughts.

Thought-provoking. I really, really, really wanted to agree with Susan…and I think I did on some points, but…but…but…damn! She’s just all over the place and sometimes I just don’t know what she be saying. But, definitely worth a listen. Made we want to go out and stomp on a water balloon to get good and wet (and make sure I wasn’t hallucinating some weird-ass interview). I definitely know that feeling she talked about – the one where you know something is bad, but you keep on doing it anyway, and never investigating why it feels bad, because then you’d feel worse for continuing to do it. Ignorance and Ignoring It muffles a lot of pain. A lot of us know when we do wrong, but keep doing it anyway. How do we break the cycle? Good on you Susan! Keep on trucking girl.

OMG If you are AT ALL still following Susan Powter after this interview I APPLAUD. Currently listening to her new cast at spreaker called Eating: The Myth – and I can’t stop laughing! OMG she’s awesome!

Honestly, y’all? After listening to only a part of this interview, I think I’d rather listen to Shirley Phelps Roeper. They’re practically indistinguishable in their extremism, and I just don’t like that sort of influence in my earbuds unless it’s ludicrous enough to laugh off most of it.

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About Fausto Fernós

Fausto Fernós is the host of iTunes’ #1 LGBT talk show, the Feast of Fun podcast, which he produces and hosts with his partner, Marc Felion.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Fausto Fernós created the Feast of Fools in 1998 as wacky artists variety show in Chicago, Illinois. Feast of Fun grew out of an audio blog to promote the live show into the world’s most downloaded talk show aimed for gay people.

When he’s not blogging, recording or sleeping, Fausto can be found at the gym or appreciating the beauty found in nature.